King Country
King Country News | 1
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2025
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kingcountrynews.nz JANUARY 23, 2025
A ludicrous dozen
By Mary Anne Gill
Waikato’s Chamber of Commerce has renewed its call for local body amalgamations and suggested Waitomo and Ōtorohanga district councils should be the first ones off the block. It is no secret that Waitomo mayor John Robertson is a fan of merging with the council’s northern neighbour, but outgoing Ōtorohanga mayor Max Baxter is not. Waikato chamber chief executive Don Good told The News having 12 councils in the Waikato region for
536,000 people – which includes King Country and Waikato Regional Council – is “ludicrous”. Amalgamation should be dominating election debates this year, he said. “The duplication is immense. The inefficiency that causes costs ratepayers. Ratepayers are voters, and ratepayers are not happy with 15 per cent rate increases,” he said. Robertson, who has experience in amalgamation talks when he was a commissioner in Northland, is on record as saying
Waitomo and Ōtorohanga are two councils of comparable size and population. Savings would come from having procurement savings, fewer councillors, one district and one long term plan. Good has even floated the idea of a ‘mega’ southern council of South Waikato, Waitomo and Ōtorohanga as a first step and a natural geographic fit. A decade ago, an amalgamation between Waipā, Waitomo and Ōtorohanga was floated by the Property Council of New
Zealand. Sources told The News Ōtorohanga would favour a merger with Waipā over one with Waitomo. “Downsizing of council staff is one solution but should have been done years ago,” said Good. “Sharing tasks among the councils is another that could work to reduce costs, but not complete centralisation. “That seldom works, and invariably reduces democracy,” he said. Poisonous parochialism would be the undoing of any amalgamation plan, Good
SPRING SPECIAL Don Good
John Robertson
said as would councillors and council staff who protect their patch at the expense of ratepayers. “Many have developed
cosy, comfortable, monopolistic attitudes and relationships.” • What do you think? Email us editor@goodlocal.nz
FoodbanksUare under pressure E S
By Chris Gardner
HO H S A W + R E T GUT N A E L C
The message is the same across the region – demand for foodbanks services is increasing. Te Kuiti Food Bank delivers weekly food parcels to the town’s schools from Journey Church. “We deliver five parcels a week that the principals can pass on to the families who really need it,” said Journey Church senior pastor Terry Bradley. “Some of the people who really need it tend not to come and get help.” A further 15 parcels a week are handed out by the foodbank on the two days it is open, bringing the total up to about 20 a week. “We handed out eight parcels today,” Bradley said of the Sheridan Street operation on Monday. The foodbank is mostly funded by the Ministry of Social Development, with some community donations, including $30,000 worth of parcels distributed just before Christmas. In Te Awamutu the Combined Churches Foodbank needs more food, more space to store it, and more volunteers to pack it, as post-Christmas demand busts records.
of peopleTHE coming to us and saying, ‘we have no food to feed JUMP QUEUE AND our children’.” If demand continued at that rate throughout the year the BOOK YOUR SPRING bank would need to provide nearly 4000 food parcels. CLEAN As demandWASH increases Middleton said, so does the need for
storage and the organisation is quickly running out of space. She also needs people to help prepare food parcels and deliver them in some cases. “We need more volunteers,” Middleton said. The demand for food parcels from the Cambridge Corps of the Salvation Army food bank could reach record levels, as the post-Christmas credit crunch catches up with the community. “We are currently sitting at about 80 per month but with the Government making cuts, Christmas expenses, back to Journey Church food bank staff, from left Mere Vono, Deeana Bradley, G e t S ucosts, m m e rI R e a d y not with o u r L o c a lto So ft W ash Expe school would bey surprised see it increase tor t s ! Leone Kretschmer, and Rowena Bradley. more than 100,” Salvation Army community engagement Foodbank co-ordinator Rita Middleton said demand had team leader Julieanna Seath said. almost doubled in two years. Volunteers handed out 784 The food bank supplied up to 130 parcels a month in parcels last year, compared to 400 in 2022. 2023. Seath said it was not just beneficiaries and the homeless “In the first week back after the Christmas break, we looking for help, but people from dual income families who handed out 23 parcels,” Middleton said. “It really is a matter found finances stretched through no fault of their own. * PREQUALIFYING CONDITIONS APPLY. PRICING APPLIES TO HOMES UP TO 160M2 IN THE WKING e ho are s COUNTRY, WAITOMO & OTOROHANGA DISTRICTS m o
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